To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
And to-day we have naming of parts.
This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.
You can read the rest of the poem on the Poetry by Heart website
Jon Stallworthy writes of this poem:
The most famous of these—indeed, the most famous English poem to emerge from World War II—derived from Reed’s experience of basic training in the RAOC. A brilliant mimic, he would entertain his friends with a comic imitation of a sergeant instructing his recruits. After a few performances, he noticed that the words of the weapon-training instructor, couched in the style of the military manual, fell into certain rhythmic patterns which fascinated him and eventually provided the structure of ‘Naming of Parts’. In this and two subsequent ‘Lessons of the War’, the military voice is wittily counter-pointed by the inner voice—more civilized and still civilian—of a listening recruit with his mind on other matters. At approximately the same point in each of the first four stanzas, the recruit’s attention wanders from the instructor’s lesson in the unnatural art of handling a lethal weapon, back to the natural world: branches, blossom, Edenic life as opposed to death.
Stallworthy, Jon. “Reed, Henry.” In The Dictionary of National Biography, 1986-1990, edited by C. S. Nicholls. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1996. 370-371.